Mask of Glass

Ch 25

Alfred came into the watchtower the next morning with Dr. Leslie Thompkins at his side. The two of them gathered the needed supplies and began preparing the operating room. They enlisted Bruce as an assistant, and they soon finished their prep.

Leslie went to the room Dick had been staying in and smiled when she found him up already and chatting with Babs.

"Richard, have you already used the restroom?" She asked.

Dick nodded, looking at Babs nervously. She squeezed his hand to give him some reassurance.

"Good. If you'll come with me then." Leslie said, leading Dick to another room that had been set up for anesthesia.

Dick laid down on the gurney and tried to relax as Dr. Leslie placed a mask over his nose and mouth.

"Take deep breaths and count down from five for me, ok." Leslie said as she twisted some knobs on the anesthesia machine, sending the gas into Dick's breathing mask.

Dick was soon anesthetized and Leslie rolled the gurney out of the room and into the operating room.

Both Alfred and Leslie quickly sterilized their hands, putting on two pairs of sterile gloves before walking back into the operating room and beginning the procedure.

—

Though it took a little bit longer than expected, Alfred and Leslie finally managed to remove the devices from Dick's ears, and he was soon in recovery.

When Dick woke up his ears were ringing and throbbing. He quickly activated his electrum, and the pain soon faded away as his ears healed themselves. The moment he activated his electrum, Dick began to feel weird, a feeling similar to the one he had gotten when Grandmaster had injected him with the poison. Dick brushed the feeling off as being something that was just in his head. Alfred had done the dialysis and cleaned his blood, the poison should be all gone now. He should be able to return to his semblance of normalcy now... Right?

Babs helped Dick back through the zeta tubes, this time without any incident, and when Dick emerged into the manor he was greeted enthusiastically by his siblings as well as Bruce who had come back to shower and change.

Dick made sure to give each of his family members a hug before following Babs upstairs to his room. He opened the door and peeked inside to see Ace curled up in the middle of his bed whining mournfully."Ace." Dick called as he stepped into the room.

The dog looked up excitedly when he heard his master's voice and he quickly rushed to Dick's side, yipping happily as well as trying to hop up on Dick and lick him to death.

"Alright alright." Dick laughed joyously. "Down boy, down."

Ace sat obediently, and Dick scratched him behind the ears and under the chin where he knew the dog loved to be scratched.

Dick sat down on the floor, dragging Babs down beside him. Ace laid down next to the pair, resting his head on Dick's lap.

"So..." Babs started. "You mentioned wanting a family yesterday... and marriage. Is that something you still want?" Babs asked.

"Well my stance on that topic hasn't changed since yesterday..." Dick said, laughing when Babs swatted him on the arm.

"I meant with me, dummy." Babs said, smiling slightly.

"Well, I know it's only been a few weeks since we got back together, but sometimes I feel as if that 5 years never separated us... You, my delicate flower, are most definitely the girl for me." Dick said in a slightly off fake French accent, leaning in and planting a kiss on Babs' cheek.

Babs laughed, which made Dick smile.

"But seriously..." Dick continued. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Neither do I, Pixie Boots." Babs said, resting her head on Dick's shoulder.

Dick didn't mind the nickname this once. As long as he had Babs.

It didn't take long for Babs to fall asleep. She hadn't slept much the night before, or the days preceding that, having been extremely worried about her boyfriend, so now that she was comfortable and warm she drifted off.

Dick sat, admiring her peaceful features. After a while he pulled her into his lap so she wouldn't wake up with a pain in her neck. He pulled a blanket off of his bed and draped it over her as well, trying to make her as comfortable as possible.

As Dick sat in the peaceful quiet, listening to Babs' steady breathing and the thump of Ace's wagging tail the weird feeling he had gotten earlier came back, along with a twinge of pain in his stomach. Dick quickly pushed it away, chalking it up to hunger since the only thing he'd eaten today had been the handful of crackers and cup of water Alfred had given him post-surgery.

Instead of focusing on the weird feeling he was experiencing, Dick pondered the question Babs had brought up. He wanted to take things further with her, and he desperately longed to marry her and make her his for life, but was he ready for that sort of commitment? Did he want to tie Babs down to a life with an ex talon? What if they ever wanted to have children? Would they even be able to? Would their children be cursed with his bright golden eyes?

There were so many questions banging around in Dick's head, but one thing was clear. He loved Babs. In fact he'd go so far as to say that if he wasn't a talon, he would have already asked her to marry him.

Dick pondered on the questions that swirled through his head while Babs slept peacefully. He hadn't realized how much time had actually passed until Alfred called up for everyone to come to dinner.

Ace stood up and walked over to the door, wanting his meal, but not wanting to leave Dick's side.

Dick smiled and gently shook Babs' shoulder to wake her.

Babs stretched with a small yawn before snuggling into Dick's chest.

"Come on, it's time for dinner." Dick said with a chuckle.

"I don't wanna get up... you're too comfortable." Babs whined.

Dick laughed again. "But I'm hungry, and if we're not going down for dinner then I guess I'll just have to..." Dick paused before shouting, "Eat you!" He started attacking Babs with tickles and making om nom noises while planting kisses on her cheek.

Babs exploded with laughter, trying to stop the tickles. "Okay... dinner time!" Babs managed to get out between her giggles.

Dick stopped tickling Babs and planted one last kiss on her cheek before helping her up and leading her down to the dining room.

The rest of the bat family was already inside the dining room and they called their greetings to Dick and Babs as they entered the room hand in hand.

"Sooooo... when's the wedding." Jason asked teasingly.

Both Dick and Babs went bright red at that, causing Jason to cackle before starting to sing a childish rhyme. "First comes love, then comes marriage, third comes a baby in a baby carriage!"

Dick groaned and face palmed. "How old are you? 5?" Dick asked, shooting an apologetic look towards Babs who simply laughed.

After Jason's comment everyone quieted down and began to eat their food. Dick however, only managed to eat a few bites, the weird feeling from before now becoming too strong to ignore. The pain that had once only been in his stomach had intensified and spread throughout Dick's entire body. He felt exactly as he'd felt when Grandmaster had injected him with the poison in the first place.

Babs grabbed Dick's hand in concern when she heard his pained groan and saw his pale, sweat beaded face.

"Dick, are you alright?" She asked, drawing the attention of everyone else at the table.

Dick shook his head. "I... the poison." He whimpered.

Bruce wasted no time scooping up his son and rushing towards the Batcave with Alfred and the rest of the family at his heels.

Dick was carried off to the watchtower where he was once again hooked up to the dialysis machine.